Everyday Life in Lapland – Where Every Day and Every Night Counts

Dissatisfied with your everyday life? Move to Lapland!

This is not the exact reasoning I followed in the moment I decided to leave the country I was living in, but it is the one that turned out to be true afterwards. At first, I just wanted to move away from my previous country to study abroad without any concrete idea in mind about where to go. I did not even know what to study. So I picked up my laptop and, being a person who cannot really sleep at night, within a couple of sleepless nights spent surfing the Internet in my electronic friend’s company, I found the right Degree Programme for me. Only after that I checked where the university offering that Programme actually was located. On the webpage it said “Rovaniemi”. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t recall where from. I googled it and the first thing that appeared on my laptop’s screen was a picture of Santa waving at me. That was the moment I realised that I was going to apply to a university in Santa’s hometown and, being a winter and Christmas atmosphere lover, this fact only strengthened my wish to move to the administrative capital of Lapland.

I applied to Lapland’s University of Applied Sciences, I did the entrance exam and after about two months I got the email I was most waiting for at that time: I got accepted to study in Rovaniemi.

As soon as I landed in Rovaniemi, I felt at home. I felt so good, and my feelings after almost a year living here are still the same, that I don’t even really want to go back to my other home country because I would feel homesick from here.

Life in Lapland proved to be amazing to me. There is no way of getting bored in here. There is always something to do and a lot to discover. This is the region that has 8 seasons and as many reindeers as inhabitants, if not more.

This is the region where sleepless nights turn into breathtaking experiences by admiring stunning Northern Lights from late autumn till spring

and the astonishing Midnight Sun in summer.

This is the region of colours: white winter wonderland; bright red, yellow and orange with all of their nuances during Ruska in autumn; Northern Lights’ green, yellow, pink and purple shining in the darkness of winter nights; different shades of blue during the “blue moment” or “Kaamos” in the same period as Northern Lights; beaming sunlight in summer. This is the region of happiness to me.

Every ordinary day can be turned into an extraordinary one here in Lapland. My average day could simply be waking up in the morning, having a coffee, going to the university, having lunch there, going back home after the lessons, having dinner, studying for a while, sleeping and repeating this over and over again. But no. This is not how things work here. Of course, they can go like this if someone wants to have a standard life with a basic and, in my opinion, quite boring routine. But Lapland offers far more to the ones that are willing to be Above Ordinary, which is also the region’s slogan. You can enjoy the view of beautiful landscapes simply while walking or cycling to move around; you can pet and make friends with adorable huskies and reindeers

and have a ride on a sleigh pulled by them in the farms that provide safaris with them; you can pick berries and mushrooms in autumn

and go fishing in summer or ice fishing in winter; you can ski or ice-skate on frozen lakes and rivers in winter and do many other kinds of winter sports;

you can attend hockey matches; you can go hiking from spring to autumn; you can enjoy homemade blueberry juice almost anywhere or coffee and pancakes prepared in a traditional way in a Kota outside in a forest, in a park or along a hiking path; you can have sauna anytime – if you do not have one in your own apartment you will have at least one in your building for common use – and make friends with Finns there or simply enjoy a relaxing moment;

you can hunt Northern Lights or wait till midnight to see the sun approaching the horizon and rising again according to the season and so much more. All of these incredible activities can be included in your everyday life when living in Lapland. Moreover, as I mentioned before, nights are not only meant for sleeping in here and they have an added value, thus enlarging the concept of everyday life also to “everynight” life.

So, to everybody who wants to make a change in their lives and feel Above Ordinary: Lapland is waiting for you. Even if not for living, but just for enjoying a shorter stay with extraordinary everydays and exceptional experiences that will probably turn into lifelong memories, Lapland is ready to host you and to be discovered.

Anyone can choose what to be and how to live. I chose to be and live Above Ordinary. What about you?

Blog Post competition with Lapland University of Applied Sciences

This blog post has been written by another of two winners of our blog post competition. Gofinland organised a competition among the students of Lapland University of Applied Sciences. The students are studying tourism in international degree programme. In the future, they will be the professionals in International Tourism.

Isabella Victoria Borgogni is sharing her inspiring experience in Finland.

Read also the blog post of another winner of our competition: Minh Hieu Nguyen wrote a great article about how hiking. Minh’s insight gives aid how to relax in nature and improve your wellbeing.